Railroad crossing



Sept 30, 196% s. s. URALLI ET AL RAILROAD cRossINo Filed Aug. ll, 1967 INVENTORS SAM". S. URALLI Y RALPH B. BQRMANN United States Patent O` 3,469,783 RAILROAD CROSSING Saml S. Uralli, Palos Verdes, and Ralph B. Bormann,

Long Beach, Calif., assignors to Johns-Manville Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 659,945 Int. Cl. E01b 21 /00, 25/28; B01b 1/00 U.S. Cl. 238-8 2 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A resilient cushioning member for a railroad track crossing providing a smooth crossing for small-wheeled, solid-tired vehicles wherein the resilient cushioning member is supported by the base flange of the rail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to a railroad track crossing and in particular to a new resilient cushioning member which cooperates with the railroad rails to provide a smooth, transverse crossing of the railroad track for vehicles having small diameter solid wheels.

Description of the prior art Summary of the Invention It is an object of this invention to provide a resilient cushioning member which cooperates with a conventional railroad rail to provide a smooth crossing area for smallwheeled, solid-tired, or other vehicles.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a resilient cushioning member which cooperates with a conventional railroad rail to prevent the entry of undesirable material into the area between the railroad rail and the road surfacing material between the rails forming the railroad tracks.

The foregoing objects are accomplished in accordance with the instant invention by a resilient cushioning member having a transverse cross-sectional configuration which substantially coincides with the transverse, crosssectional configuration between the railroad rail and the road surfacing material or retaining member between the rails forming the railroad tracks. Furthermore, the resilient cushioning member is designed so that it is supported by the upper surface of the base flange of the conventional railroad rail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will be more fully understood and further objects and advantages thereof will become apparent when reference is made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in cross-section showing a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating the crossing of a small-wheeled, solid-tired vehicle; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the ICC compression of the resilient cushioning member by the flange of a railroad car wheel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1, a railroad track crossing comprising a pair of rails 2 which are suitably secured in a conventional manner at spaced intervals to a railroad tie 4 having a tie plate 6 and spikes 8. The center section by the rails 2 is filled by a slab 10 comprising a rectangular channel iron frame 12 filled with a suitable material such as concrete 14. Preferably, the slab 10 is formed in place by placing the frame 12 in position and then pouring in the concrete. If desired, a bed of sand covered `by a suitable plastic sheet between the rails 2 may be used to provide a base for the concrete. However, experience has shown that a bed of sand is not required. The channel iron frame 12 is placed between the rails 2 and secured in position on the ties 4 by a plurality of spikes 20 cooperating with the retaining members 22 secured to the frame 12. The space within the frame 12 is then filled with a suitable material such as concrete to a level even with the upper portion of the frame 12- The slab 10 and particularly the frame 12 is secured in position so that a space exists between the frame 12 and the facing inner surfaces 24 of the rails 2. The road surface 26 is formed snugly against the outer surface 28 of the rails 2 and level with the top surface of each rail 2. The space between the frame 12 and the facing inner surface of each rail 2 is filled with a resilient cushioning member 30. The transverse cross-sectional configuration of the cushioning member 30 substantially coincides with the transverse cross-sectional configuration of the space between the inner surface 24 of the rail 2, the upper surface of the tie plates 6, and the adjacent surface of the frame 12. As illustrated in the drawings, the cushioning member 30 substantially fills the space between each rail 2 and the frame 12. The upper surface 32 of the cushioning member 30 is substantially even or level with the upper surface 34 of the rail 2 and the upper surface 36 of the frame 12 so as to present a uniform surface to provide a smooth crossing for small-wheeled, solid-tired vehicles, or any other type of vehicle. The cushioning member 30 is provided with a longitudinally extending opening 38 to provide a space to receive that portion of the cushioning member deformed by the flange 40 of the wheel 42 of a conventional railroad car.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, each cushioning member 30 is positioned against the inner surface 24 of its associated rail 2 and the frame 12 is then positioned between the cushioning members 30. The space Within the frame 12 is then filled with a suitable material such as concrete. If it is necessary to repair the rails, the ties, or the cushioning member, the slab 10 may be removed 'by removing the spikes 20 and securing eye bolts to the retaining members 30. The slab 10 may then be lifted out of its position.

Each positioning member 30 is supported primarily by one side 44 of the base ange 46 of the rail 2. Additionally, the cushioning member 30 is supported by the surface 48 of the cushioning member 30 contacting the upper surface of each tie plate 6. If desired, the cushioning member may be provided with recesses to accommodate the heads of the spikes 8. However, experience has shown that it is not necessary to provide such recesses. The total surface area of the unsupported portion of the bottom surface 48 of the cushioning member 30 between the adjacent ties is relatively small when compared with the total surface area of the cushioning member 30 which iS supported by the base flanges of the rails 2 and the tie plates 6 so that the cushioning member 30 can withstand the forces applied to it by the railroad car and the crossing vehicular traic and still remain in the desired position. There is little or no tendency for the cushioning member to be extruded out through the relatively narrow opening between the base flange 46 and the frame 12. It is further noted that the cushioning member 30 has suicient resistance to deformation to provide the proper surface for the crossing of small-wheeled, solid-tired vehicles and yet has sufficient resiliency to deform in response to the forces applied by the flange of the railroad car and then return to its original position. In the preferred embodiment, the cushioning member is preferably formed from rubber having a Shore durometer between about 50 and 60.

As described above, the cushioning member 30 substantially fills the space between the inner surface 24 of the rails 2 and the frame 12 so as to prevent the entry of any undesirable material into this space. Also, as illustrated particularly in FIG. 3, the configuration of the cushioning member 30 is such that there is no tendency for the displaced material to catch under the protruding portion 50 of the rails 2.

It is to be understood that all the details in the foregoing description of the invention need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modiiications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as dened by the subioined claims.

What we claim is:

1. A railroad track crossing comprising:

(a) a pair of spaced rails mounted on spaced ties and forming a guide for the flanged wheels of a railroad car,

(b) means defining a road surface between said rails with said road surface lying substantially in the sam plane as the top surface of said rails, Y

(c) said means defining each road surface having a pair of surfaces each facing the inner surface of an adjacent rail and cooperating with said inner surface of each of said rails to dene two parallel spaces,

(d) means in each of said spaces to provide a smooth, transverse crossing of the railroad track for vehicles, particularly vehicles having small diameter, solidtired Wheels,

(e) said means in each of said spaces comprising a resilient cushioning member, (f) said cushioning member having an upper surface lying substantially in the same plane as Said top surface of said rails and a transverse cross-sectional configuration similar to the transverse cross-sectional configuration of each of said spaces and substantially filling each of said space and in contact with said inner surface of each rail and said facing surface of said means deiining a road surface between said rails, and

(g) said cushioning member in contact with and supported 4by the base flange of each of said rails.

2. A railroad track crossing as deiined in claim 1 wherein:

(a) said cushioning member has a longitudinally extending opening therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,689,278 10/ 1928 Crabbs 238-8 2,835,451 5/ 1958 Goulding 238-8 2,950,057 8/ 1960 Speer 238--8 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner 35 RICHARD A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner 

